it was
destined to become, proved, so far as actual use was concerned, but
short-lived. It became operative, as we have seen, on Whitsunday,
1549, but it was soon evident that while the new services went too
far in the direction of reform to please the friends of the ancient
order of things, they did not go far enough to meet the wishes of
the reforming party.

Before the year was out no fewer than three translations of the
Liturgy into Latin had been undertaken with a view to informing
the Protestant divines of the Continent as to what their English
colleagues were doing. "There was already within the Church" (of
England), writes Cardwell, in his comparison of Edward's two books,
"a party, though probably not numerous, which espoused the peculiar
sentiments of Calvin; there were others, and Cranmer, it appears,
had recently been one of them, adhering strictly to the opinions
of Luther; there were many, and those among the most active and the
most learned, who adopted the views of Bullinger and the theologians
of Zurich; there was a still larger body anxious to combine all
classes of Protestants under one general confession, and all these,
though with distinct objects and different degrees of impatience,
looked forward to a revision of the Liturgy, to bring it more
completely into accordance with their own sentiments."

As a result of the agitation thus vividly pictured by Cardwell,
there came forth in 1552 the book known as the Second Prayer Book
of King Edward VI., a work of the very greatest interest, for the
reason that it was destined to become the basis of all future
revisions. Whitsunday, 1549, was the day when the First Book began
to be used. The Feast of All Saints, 1552, was the date officially
appointed for the introduction of the Second Book. Presently King
Edward died, and by an act of Mary passed in October, 1553, the use
of his Book became illegal on and after December 20th of that year.
It thus appears that the First Book was in use for two years and
about four months, and the Second Book one year and about two
months. A memorable three years and a half for the English-speaking
peoples of all time to come, for it is not too much to say that
while the language of Tyndale and of Cranmer continues to be heard
on earth, the devotions then put into form will keep on moulding
the religious thought and firing the spiritual imagination of this
race.

The points in which the second of King Edward's two books